Week 13

This week I started to brainstorm and look into ideas for the Methodology Project. I really want to map out and create a timeline for Star Wars filming locations. At first, I was thinking about doing something COVID-19 related because it is very topical right now. However, my entire family is essential employees in the healthcare field, and it has been a very overwhelming time. Star Wars is something that I have really loved my entire life, and I think it will be nice to dive into something familiar that sparks a lot of joy for me right now.

I want to proceed with the filming locations in chronological order of release date, so I began looking at the original Star Wars film from 1977. I had been generally aware of some filming locations because I read Anthony Daniels memoir in February, and he detailed a lot from his journals at the time. I knew the Tatooine scenes were filmed in Tunisia, and the studio scenes were filmed at Pinewood Studios in London. I found a list in the IMDb database of filming locations for this movie. The very first one listed was a hotel in Matmata, Tunisia that functioned as the Lars family homestead, Luke Skywalker’s boyhood home. I was absolutely shocked to discover that it remains an operational hotel, and one of the first search results when I researched into the location was Trip Advisor reviews!

This has gotten me extremely excited to discover more about the rest of the filming locations for the saga. Even briefly looking into some of the prequels, there’s a lot less green screen than I anticipated. I look forward to finding out more about the places in our world that were the backdrop for this pop culture phenomenon. Maybe this could end up being the basis for a travel itinerary one day? I can hope.

Rachel

Hi there! My name is Rachel, and I am a Communication and Digital Studies major at the University of Mary Washington. Thanks for visiting my website!